He indicates to you he is not going to split. You tell him you will take half of bet. He agrees. Who get the first dealt card after split? Does this have to be mentioned prior to split, or is it common knowledge?

Jim -- Splitting 9/9 against a 9 is a defensive split. That is, the player who has this hand will win with his pat 18, 41% of the time if he stands -- but will win with each 9, 48% of the time if he splits. Therefore, you don't want any part of his action. If he had say, 9/9 against an 8, it would be a different story, since 9 against an 8 is a 55% shot.

For the record, when taking a piece of somebody else's split, I usually encourage that we go as 50-50 partners on the entire combined outcome. That way, if one hand wins and one hand loses, there won't be any hard feelings or arguments. It also simplifies the settlement if there are any re-splits or double downs and tends to breed a feeling of camaraderie.

Thanks kindly for responding. Your method of sharing bet is by far the best I've read. I recently had a situation where a problem existed and it could of been eliminated if I would have known this advice.

I do what Fred does. I once witnessed a near brawl over this. Guy didn't have enough money to split. player on his _right_ (who had alredy finished playing) offered to buy one of the hands (this was an advantageous split however, 9 vs 6. Guy said OK. First 9 got a 2, original "owner" wanted to double for less. player buying in wanted to double for whole thing. Big argument over "who owned that hand" ensued, player on right saying "that hand is closer to me, it is mine..." etc... prompting a call to security, much cursing. I slipped quietly away myself.

Moral was that this has to be decided _before_ the dealer deals a card after a split. I usually say "OK, I'll buy one hand so you can split (say A-A vs 6) but if I do, we are both into both hands and we split the total winnings if either wins..." Solves a lot of arguments preemptively... On the AA vs 6, say you split the A's and get a 3 on the first. Now you want to double. 50-50 on the double if at all possible to maintain equality. Or you can pay the double and get the payoff on the double (you share the initial bet) assuming the guy can't afford the double. But watch out as there is another trap. You have A3 vs 6 and you want to double. He does not. You pay the double and you get an A. He yells, see, now you cost me money as after doubling we only get one card, whereas if we didn't double, we could hit again and fix that soft 15 that is a loser... caution is advised.